It’s strawberry season in New England, so the other weekend I picked 40 pounds of ripe berries and turned most of them into strawberry-rhubarb jam. I used less sugar than traditional recipes because I find most jam recipes are cloyingly sweet and too sticky. Because I didn’t want to bother with preserving the jam, I simply spooned it into glass jars and froze it. You really can freeze glass and the frozen  jam will last for several months (if not longer) in the freezer. Make sure to save at least one jar to enjoy right away and store it in the refrigerator.

Delicious Strawberry-Rhubarb Jam (for the freezer)

I didn’t use a recipe, but here is approximately how I made it.

18 cups hulled ripe strawberries, rinsed

5 long, fat stalks rhubarb, each rinsed and cut into 1-inch chunks (about 6 cups)

2 cups granulated white sugar, plus more if needed

1. Combine the strawberries, rhubarb, and sugar in a large, heavy-bottom soup pot over medium heat. When the berries start to release their juices and you can see the syrup bubbling, reduce the heat to medium-low. Simmer the mixture, uncovered, until it has become jammy, about 3 hours, stirring mixture occasionally. Taste the jam for sweetness and add more sugar, if desired. If you’ve added more sugar, cook the jam for 10 minutes more to make sure the sugar has dissolved into the jam.

2. Let the jam cool slightly. Lay out 6 to 8 clean glass jars with screw tops–I used a variety of jars I’d saved from store-bought fruit butters, nut butters, and jams (the number of jars will vary depending upon how big they are)–and spoon the warm jam into the jars, leaving a little head room (the area between the jam and the jar’s top rim), about 1/8-inch.  Let the jam cool completely. When cool, screw the tops on the jars, label the jam (include the date), and place it in freezer.

My favorite way to enjoy this jam is spooned over ricotta cheese on grainy toast. It’s also very good swirled into goat’s milk yogurt and would make a tasty accompaniment to seared foie gras and grilled pork tenderloin.